Longtime atheist, new member.

I figure I would do the polite thing and introduce myself, like so many others have done on here.Compared to many of you, my story is pretty uneventful. Here goes...

I was born in Zemun, Serbia (the Socialist Federalist Republic of Yugoslavia at the time).The main religion of Serbia is Orthodox Christian (Greek Orthodox i think), but since it was a communist country at the time, religion was never a big factor in life.My father is sort of religious, he believes in god, but only goes to church once or twice a year, my mother on the other hand has been atheist all her life. She doesn't label herself as one, but her view on religion is atheist.

When my brother was born my father wanted him baptized, so it was done, but when I was born, my mother was strongly against me being baptized, so it was kind of like "You got one, I get one."

Both my brother and I were raised with no belief though. We were given a choice, and told to look at religion and the other alternatives, and in the end make our own decision on what we will believe. No surprise that we are both atheist.

During my time of trying to figure out where I fit in as far as belief goes, I gave religion a honest try. I truly wanted to believe, and tried praying and all that, even went to a church in my small town of Zemun Polje. But the more I thought about it, the less it made sense to me. So at a very young age, of 5 or 6, I knew that there is no god, devil, heaven or hell. It was all a lie. Also, finding out that Santa Claus is fake at the age of 4 helped too.

So during my childhood, religion was an afterthought, never really a big issue, until I came to Canada.In grade 6, when I came to Canada, and was asked by fellow students if I believed in god, and I said that I don't, they thought that I was a devil worshipper. I was amazed that they did not understand that if you don't believe in one, the other one cancels itself out. So, during my schooling I heard plenty of "you're going to hell," and so on, but I knew there was no such thing, so it never bothered me. All my life I loved ancient history, so I was very familiar with old religions, and outdated beliefs, as well as things like the origin of species and pretty much many things I needed to disprove religion. On top of that, I had my moral code, ethics and general love for humanity that helped me through those times when I felt attacked because of my lack of belief.I found solace in music, videogames, and mostly books, which all provided me with even more ammunition to fight back when provoked.

I was lucky enough to make a surprisingly large number of atheist friends in Canada, considering the size of my town, and number of churches. So, life went on without any problems or oppression.

Then I met my wife, and her uber religious Seventh Day Adventist family. The first question I was asked when I met her family was about my belief. And being true to my way of life, I answered honestly, and as expected receiving the typical questions about morality, Pascal's Wager, etc.

So that is my life in a nutshell, I am still trying to help my wife deal with her crazy family. She is also religious, although not as much as them. It is tough at times, because I have to hold back often when we discuss religion, because I want her to come to her own realization rather than feel that I am trying to convert her. I believe that it is slowly working. She agrees with a lot of science, to an extent even evolution, and stops the discussion when I get on a subject that is a blatant error in the religion, or just absurd. I feel like she knows the truth of it, but is too afraid to pursue it or admit it.